Brick conveyor

ABSTRACT

Trays of brick, stacked two courses to a tray, one atop the other, are marshalled along a main index conveyor to a first transfer point, where a first transfer carriage removes the upper course from each tray, and transfers it to an auxiliary index conveyor synchronized with and driven in the same direction as the main conveyor. The bricks then proceed down parallel paths on the main and auxiliary conveyors in single layers facilitating grading and inspection, yet maintaining the economy realized from a multi-layered path. After inspection and grading a separator sheet is placed atop the lower course on the main conveyor, and, upon reaching a second transfer point, the upper course is returned to its original position atop one of the lower courses by means of a second transfer carriage. During the transfer, other operations may be performed, such as everting of the upper course and the forming of tyne courses in selected lower courses.

United States Patent [1 1 Stuart Dec. 11, 1973 BRICK CONVEYOR [75]Inventor: Gerald L. Stuart, Siler City, N.C.

[73] Assignee: Forrest Paschal Machinery Company, Siler City, N.C.

[22] Filed: May 4, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 250,151

[52] US. Cl. 198/35, 214/6 A [51] Int. Cl. 365g 57/00, 865g 59/00 [58]Field of Search 198/19, 35; 214/6 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 3,039,593 6/1962 Edmonds 198/35 Primary Examiner-Edward A. SrokaAttorney-Charles R. Rhodes [57] ABSTRACT Trays of brick, stacked twocourses to a tray, one atop the other, are marshalled along a main indexconveyor to a first transfer point, where a first transfer carriageremoves the upper course from each tray, and transfers it to anauxiliary index conveyor synchronized with and driven in the samedirection as the main conveyor. The bricks then proceed down parallelpaths on the main and auxiliary conveyors in single layers facilitatinggrading and inspection, yet maintaining the economy realized from amulti-layered path. After inspection and grading a separator sheet isplaced atop the lower course on the main conveyor, and, upon reaching asecond transfer point, the upper course is returned to its originalposition atop one of the lower courses by means of a second transfercarriage. During the transfer, other operations may be performed, suchas everting of the upper course and the forming of tyne courses inselected lower courses.

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDDEE 11 I975 3.777.873

SHIET 10F 2 FIG.

L ATENTEU DEC 1 1 I975 SHEET 2 BF 2 1. BRICK CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION In the process of their manufacture, bricks are customarilyarranged for firing purposes in Open stacks upon kiln cars which areconducted through a furnace or kiln. Each stack comprises a plurality oftiers, each tier having two courses therein with spaces between adjacentbricks in each course, hence the term open stacks. Following the firingOperation, the bricks on the kiln cars must be unstacked, inspected,graded, grouped and conveyed to a stackingand strapping machinepreparatory to shipment and eventual use. Automated methods andapparatus for unstacking kiln cars have been developed wherein the kilncars are unstacked two courses or a tier at a time, the bricks groupedtogether tightly, and placed in trays on an offbearing conveyor to anautomated stacking and strapping machine. By unloading the kiln cars twocourses at a time, the conveyor output is twice as would be the case ifthe courses were unloaded and conveyed one course at a time.

Conveying the courses two layers at a time, however, generates someproblems in that sometime previous to the stacking of the courses intothe final packages, each course must be inspected, graded, and separatorsheets placed between the courses of each tier, especially in situationswhere the bricks are going to be shipped by rail car. Also, tyneopeningsfor'handling completed stacks by fork trucks must be formed inthe lower course of every fifth tier. In some cases, the upper coursesmust be everted 180 or defaced so that the faces of the brick are alwayson the upper surface of each course in the finished stack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, therefore, provides amethod and apparatus for breaking apart the courses of each tier for ashort period of time, and in this resppct tiers of bricks comprising twocourses are marshalled along a main index conveyor to a first transferpoint, where the upper course thereof is removed and deposited onto aparallel auxiliary index conveyor. The main index conveyor and theauxiliary index conveyor are operated synchronously, and in a directionparallel to each other, so that every time one upper course is removedfrom the main conveyor another upper course is returned. The bricks fromthe upper course proceed down the auxiliary conveyor while the bricks inthe lower course are carried down the main conveyor whereupon operatorsmay grade and inspect the bricks in each course and subsequently place aseparator sheet atop the lower course. Upon reaching a second transferpoint, the upper course is returned to its original position atop alower course on the main conveyor by means of a second transfercarriage. It is not necessary, in fact it is desirable for blendingpurposes that the upper course be returned to a different lower coursethan that from which it was removed.

Although the specification is directed to brick handling, it is readilyapparent that it is applicable to any type of article which is of aknown size and shape, processed in double layers, wherein at some pointoperations must be performed on each layer individually.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus for more economically conveying bricks unstacked from akiln car to a brick 2. stacking machine while permitting operations oneach course individually at an intermediate point therebetween.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus of the type described wherein bricks are initially conveyed intwo-course tiers and an auxiliary conveyor is positioned adjacent themain indexing conveyor for breaking the tiers down into single coursesand providing a second separate path for the upper course so that eachcourse may be inspected, graded or other operations performed on eithercourse separately of the other.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon readingthe following detailed descrip' tion of the invention, along with theappended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view, with the conveyor ends broken away, illustratingthe apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along lines 2-2 in FIG.1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially alonglines 3-3 in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1 bricks have been deposited on the initial end (not shown) of amain conveyor 12 from a kiln car having fired bricks conventionallyarranged thereon in a plurality of stacks, each stack comprising aplurality Of alternating header-oriented and stretcher-orienteddouble-course tiers. Each course includes a plurality of rows R, witheleven bricks in each row. The numbers of rows in a course, whileillustrated here as three, can vary from one to six, six rows beingabout the maximum which can be lifted between gripper members.

In accordance with the present invention, successive double-course tiersT are removed one at a time from the kiln car and loaded in trays on amain indexing conveyor 12. The tiers T are successively indexed alongconveyor 12 until they reach a first transfer point, whereupon the uppercourse UC is lifted by a first transfer carriage 30 and transferred overonto one end of an auxiliary indexing conveyor 14. At the same time, ifdesired, selected bricks from lower course LC are removed by transfercarriage 30 to provide tyne openings 13 in the lower course. The bricksremoved from lower course LC are deposited on a tyne table 15, in thepath of carriage 30 from main conveyor 12 to auxiliary conveyor 14.

The auxiliary index conveyor 14 is so operated and synchronized withmain conveyor 12 that it moves in the same direction along a lineparallel to the main index conveyor for a prescribed distance. As oneupper course is removed from main conveyor 12, another upper course isreturned while auxiliary conveyor 14 is indexing to the next position.Then as the upper course removed from conveyor 12 is transferred to anddeposited on the auxiliary conveyor 14, the main conveyor is indexing tothe next position. As the separated courses LC, UC are moved in parallelalong the main index conveyor 12 and auxiliary index conveyor 14, thebricks in each course may be inspected and graded by operatorspreferably placed between the two conveyor lines. Also, a separatorsheet may be placed atop the lower course LC after the inspection andgrading is completed. Moreover, specialized transfer equipment may beutilized in transferring the upper course to or from auxiliary conveyor14 whereby the upper course may be rotated to deface the upper layer.

As the upper course UC and lower course LC of tiers T reach a secondtransfer point, a second transfer carriage 34 returns the upper courseto its initial position atop the corresponding lower course, therebyreforming tier T, from whence the bricks proceed to a conventionalstacking and strapping station. It should be noted that it ispreferable, for blending purposes, to return the upper course UC to adifferent tier on the main conveyor 12 than that from which it wastaken. This may easily be accomplished by providing less positions orindexes between the two transfer points on the auxiliary conveyor thanare provided on the main conveyor. In such an arrangement, the uppercourse will reach the return transfer point on the main conveyor beforethe lower course from which it was lifted.

For performing the foregoing and related functions, the apparatusaccording to the present invention generally comprises a main indexingconveyor 12 of the endless-apron type and preferably having a pluralityof separator walls 16 spaced therealong forming a plurality of traystherebetween. The distance between adjacent walls 16 or the length ofeach tray is equal to the length of each row R in each course, which isequivalent to eleven headers in the set up shown and illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2. Such an arrangement is hereinafter referred to as atray-type conveyor, with each tray containing a double course tier T ofbrick, and the walls 16 being sufficiently high to prevent sliding ortoppling of the bricks as the conveyor is in motion. Where the conveyoris operated at sufficiently slow speeds, the walls 16 may be eliminated.

The auxiliary index conveyor 14 is also preferably of the endless aprontype, however, since only one course of brick is moved therealong, theseparator walls are considered to be unnecessary. The main indexconveyor 12 and auxiliary index conveyor 14 are so synchronized thatthey both alternately move and stop at the same time, so that theloading and unloading operations are carried out on one conveyor whilethe other conveyor indexes.

Loaded kiln cars supporting stacks of fired bricks are moved to anunloading station adjacent one end of the main indexing conveyor 12 (notshown) and unloaded in any known fashion in which tiers of brick twocourses high will be placed on the conveyor 12. One such unloadingapparatus is illustrated and described in commonly-assigned applicationSer. No. 126,615 filed Mar. 22, 1971.

The important thing about the unloading apparatus insofar as thisapplication is concerned is that it removes double course tiers of brickfrom the kiln car and deposits each course of bricks in one of the traysof index conveyor 12.

At the first transfer position a first transfer carriage 30 is mountedon a pair of rails 32 for horizontal translatory motion back and forthbetween the main index conveyor 12 and one end of the auxiliary indexconveyor 14. Transfer carriage 30 is preferably of the type illustratedand described in 'applicants copending application Ser. No. 249,03l,filed May 1, 1972, which discloses an apparatus for automaticallyforming the tyne course in double-course tiers as they proceed along anindexing conveyor comprising, in general, a pickup head having twoindependently operated sets of grippers 40, 42. One set of grippers 40lifts and transfers the upper course to a second position, while thesecond set 42 grips and lifts selected bricks from the lower course toform the tyne openings therein. The selected bricks are deposited on anintermediate or auxiliary tynebrick'table 31. By using such an apparatusin combination with the present method, the step of forming the tynelayer may be combined with movement of the upper course onto theauxiliary conveyor during the grading and inspecting step, realizingeven further economies. The type course is only formed once every fivetiers, therefore, since the two sets of grippers are operatedindependently, as the other four tiers are transferred only the firstset of grippers of head 30 are activated. The transfer carriage 30 mayalso be of the type that lowers, grips on the headers of the uppercourse, lifts back up, transfers and sets the course down; or it may beof the type that lowers and applies suction to the upper surface of eachbrick in the upper course of tier T, lifts, traverses and sets thecourse down; or it may be of other similar types if it is not necessaryor desired to form the tyne course during this step.

The return transfer carriage 34 may be one of the several well knowntypes of transfer carriages described in the preceding paragraph whichreciprocates back and forth on a set of rails 36 similar to rails 30 andmerely drops down, lifts the upper course UC from auxiliary conveyor 14and returns it to its place atop the one of the lower courses on mainindex conveyor 12. However, preferably, transfer carriage 34 is of atype illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 including a pair of grippers 44, 46which are pivotaliy attached to a frame 48 positioned adjacent the endsof rows R and movable from a release;position out of engagement with thebricks to a gripping position in engagement with the ends of the rows ofbrick. Frame 48 is movable both vertically by means of a hydrauliccylinder 50 and transversely between conveyors 12, 14 on rails 36.Grippers 44, 46 are mounted on the inner ends of shafts 52, 54, which inturn are journalled in the side walls of frame 48, thus providing apivotal mounting means for grippers 44, 46. A commercially availableeverter 56 is attached to the outer end of one of the shafts 54, wherebyas each upper course UC is lifted and transferred from auxiliaryconveyor 14 back to main conveyor 12, the entire course is rotated sothat the bricks therein are defaced, and the finished stack will includeall courses having the faces of the bricks therein facing in the samedirection.

In FIG. 3, it should be noted that upper courses UC are spaced along thesurface of the conveyor 14. From such spacing it is apparent thatconveyor 14 is being operated faster than conveyor 12, and that aselected upper course UC will be returned to main conveyor 12 atop adifferent lower course LC from which it was removed. This is thepreferable method as it will aid in the blending of the brick in thefinal stacking, however it is within the scope of the invention tooperate both conveyors at the same speed where blending is not desiredor is to be accomplished elsewhere.

During the time the upper course UC is on auxiliary conveyor 14, anoperator positioned between the two layers can grade and inspect bothcourses and place a separator sheet atop the lower course previous tothe return of the upper course, or perform other manual operations suchas forming tyne courses. l-leretofore, it has been almost impossible toprocess bricks in double courses because of the necessity in certaintypes of shipping operations to have a separator sheet between eachcourse and because of the difficulty in grading and inspecting the lowercourse when it is covered with bricks. The present method permits suchprocessing. which obviously is more economical since the bricks areunstacked and conveyed in two layers at a time.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown andillustrated, it should be understood that various modifications might bedeveloped without departing from the scope of the invention, whichshould be limited only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Method of grading and inspecting articles proceeding along a mainindexing conveyor in double-course tiers comprising the steps of:

a. successively receiving said double-course tiers of incoming articlesat a first transfer point;

b. removing and transferring the upper course to an auxiliary indexingconveyor synchronized with and parallel to the main indexing conveyor;

c. conveying the upper course and lower course separately for a periodof time while each course is graded and inspected; and

d. returning said upper course from said auxiliary conveyor to itsinitial position atop a lower course on the main conveyor at a secondtransfer point.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said upper layer is replacedonto a different tier in step (d) than that from which it was taken.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein a separator sheet is placedatop each of the lower courses on the main conveyor prior to step (d).

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein selected articles from thelower course are lifted and removed simultaneously with the lifting ofthe upper course from auxiliary conveyor.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein during step (d), the uppercourse is everted thereby depositing the articles thereof face up on thelower course preparatory to the stacking operation.

6. Apparatus for grading and inspecting articles proceeding along a mainindex conveyor in double course tiers comprising:

a. an auxiliary index conveyor extending along a portion of the lengthof the main conveyor, said auxiliary conveyor being synchronized withand moving parallel with said main conveyor;

b. a first transfer carriage including a first gripping means forlifting the upper course from each tier on the main index conveyor at afirst transfer position and transferring said upper course to one end ofthe auxiliary conveyor;

c. a second transfer carriage including means for lifting each uppercourse from said auxiliary conveyor at a second transfer position andtransferring said upper course back onto one of the lower courses onsaid main conveyor.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said first transfercarriage further includes a second gripping means for gripping andlifting selected articles from the lower course along with the uppercourse to form a tyne course in selected tiers.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said first and secondgripping means are activated independently of each other so thatarticles from the lower courses are transferred only in selected tiers.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said second transfercarriage includes an everting means for rotating upper courses 180 asthey are transferred back to the main conveyor.

1. Method of grading and inspecting articles proceeding along a mainindexing conveyor in double-course tiers comprising the steps of: a.successively receiving said double-course tiers of incoming articles ata first transfer point; b. removing and transferring the upper course toan auxiliary indexing coNveyor synchronized with and parallel to themain indexing conveyor; c. conveying the upper course and lower courseseparately for a period of time while each course is graded andinspected; and d. returning said upper course from said auxiliaryconveyor to its initial position atop a lower course on the mainconveyor at a second transfer point.
 2. The method according to claim 1wherein said upper layer is replaced onto a different tier in step (d)than that from which it was taken.
 3. The method according to claim 1wherein a separator sheet is placed atop each of the lower courses onthe main conveyor prior to step (d).
 4. The method according to claim 1wherein selected articles from the lower course are lifted and removedsimultaneously with the lifting of the upper course from selected tierson the main conveyor, the selected articles from the lower course beingdeposited on an auxiliary table prior to the placing of the upper courseon the auxiliary conveyor.
 5. The method according to claim 1 whereinduring step (d), the upper course is everted 180*, thereby depositingthe articles thereof face up on the lower course preparatory to thestacking operation.
 6. Apparatus for grading and inspecting articlesproceeding along a main index conveyor in double course tierscomprising: a. an auxiliary index conveyor extending along a portion ofthe length of the main conveyor, said auxiliary conveyor beingsynchronized with and moving parallel with said main conveyor; b. afirst transfer carriage including a first gripping means for lifting theupper course from each tier on the main index conveyor at a firsttransfer position and transferring said upper course to one end of theauxiliary conveyor; c. a second transfer carriage including means forlifting each upper course from said auxiliary conveyor at a secondtransfer position and transferring said upper course back onto one ofthe lower courses on said main conveyor.
 7. The apparatus according toclaim 6 wherein said first transfer carriage further includes a secondgripping means for gripping and lifting selected articles from the lowercourse along with the upper course to form a tyne course in selectedtiers.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said first andsecond gripping means are activated independently of each other so thatarticles from the lower courses are transferred only in selected tiers.9. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said second transfercarriage includes an everting means for rotating upper courses 180* asthey are transferred back to the main conveyor.